The Ultimate Frogfish Guide
The frogfishes are some of the most bizarre and spectacular of all the reef fishes. They have fascinated ichthyophiles for centuries. In their book, Frogfishes of the World, Pietsch and Grobecker (1987) record this quote from the naturalist William Swainson (1838): "they are the most grotesque - we had almost said the most hideous - of all the fishes, and, as their vernacular name of frogfish implies, they have nearly as much the appearance of frogs or toads as of fish…" Even today, frogfishes are sought out by many purveyors of the rare and unusual. People travel to distant parts of the world to see and photograph them. I have even seen grown male divers squeal like school girls after seeing their first frogfish (OK, it was me, I admit it)! Unfortunately, the various frogfish species can be difficult to tell apart. For this reason, I have decided to provide a series of articles on all of the more commonly encountered species of frogfishes with specific details on their distinguishing characteristics and loads of photos (including slide shows) to assist you in your efforts to identify these amazing mini-monsters. I also hope to use this as a platform to share some of our underwater observations on the various frogfish species. The frogfish aficionado will also want to keep their eyes on our Field Notes section, where you'll find articles on the taxonomy and natural history of some of the less common or more enigmatic species of antennariids. In any case, you can count on CoralRealm.com to have more photos and information on these fishes than any other resource on the planet! Note: We will be adding more species to the list below as the year goes on, so keep checking back. We will also announce these additions on the home page and the What's New page. Text and Photos by Scott W. Michael and Janine Cairns-Michael
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Fish Lab - Classification
